Over 200 Former ECHL Players In AHL21 AHL Coaches Have ECHL Background

PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL is represented by more than 200 players, nine head coaches, 12 assistant coaches and countless other personnel on the 27 teams in the American Hockey League which opened its 71st season on Wednesday.

There are at least three former ECHL players listed on each roster and six teams list 12 players that have played in the ECHL while a former ECHL coach is behind the bench of 17 teams.

The Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 23 of the 27 teams in the AHL, marking the sixth consecutive year that the ECHL has had affiliations with more than 20 teams in the AHL, and for the past 16 years there has been a former ECHL player on the team that has won the Calder Cup.

For each of the past four seasons, the ECHL has had more players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with 1,646 call ups involving almost 1,000 players, including 2005-06 when there were 416 call ups involving 263 players.

Nine former ECHL coaches are head coaches in the AHL including Bruce Boudreau of Hershey and Claude Noel of Milwaukee. Boudreau is the only coach to win both the ECHL and the AHL titles having led Hershey to the Calder Cup championship in 2006 and Mississippi to the Kelly Cup championship in 1999. Noel is the only coach to be named Coach of the Year in both the ECHL (2002-03 with Toledo) and the AHL (2003-04 with Milwaukee).

Other head coaches in the AHL with an ECHL background are Dave Allison of Iowa, David Baseggio of Peoria, Scott Gordon of Providence, Mike Haviland of Norfolk, Greg Ireland of Grand Rapids, Kurt Kleinendorst of Lowell and Roy Sommer of Worcester.

There are 12 assistant coaches in the AHL who have ECHL experience – Scott Allen of Omaha, Dan Bylsma of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Jack Capuano of Bridgeport, David Cunniff of Worcester, J.J. Daigneault of Hartford, Kevin Dean of Lowell, Ted Dent of Norfolk, Gord Dineen of San Antonio, Joe Ferras of Bridgeport, Mike LaZazzera of Portland, Kjell Samuelsson of Philadelphia, Matt Shaw of Houston and Bob Woods of Hershey – while Scott White is director of hockey operations for Iowa.

The AHL Coach of the Year award was won by former ECHL coaches four years in a row from 2001-04 with Noel (2004), Geoff Ward (2003), Bruce Cassidy (2002) and Don Granato (2001). Carolina Hurricanes and former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette was the first former ECHL coach to capture the award in 1999.

The AHL Most Valuable Player Award has been won four times by former ECHL players, most recently by former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera in 2003-04. Other former ECHL players who were named as MVP of the AHL are Eric Boguniecki in 2001-02, Martin Brochu in 1999-2000 and Brad Smyth in 1995-96.

Here are the former ECHL players and coaches on AHL teams as of October 5: